Rays acquire 1B Cron; designate OF Dickerson for assignment

Los Angeles Angels' C.J. Cron watches his RBI triple off Oakland Athletics' Daniel Coulombe during the eighth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2017, in Oakland, Calif. (Ben Margot/AP)

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays have acquired first baseman C.J. Cron from the Los Angeles Angels and designated outfielder Corey Dickerson for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.

The 28-year-old Cron was acquired Saturday night in exchange for a player to be named. He appeared in 100 games with 92 starts last season, hitting .248 with 16 homers and 56 RBIs.

Dickerson was the AL’s starting designated hitter in last year’s All-Star Game. His production dipped after the All-Star break, however the 28-year-old still posted career highs in several categories, including runs (84), hits (166) and home runs (27).

The Rays acquired Dickerson from Colorado in January 2016. He batted .265 with 51 homers and 132 RBIs in two years with Tampa Bay. He’s a .280 career hitter with 90 homers and 256 RBIs over parts of five seasons with the Rockies and Rays.

The Rays also traded right-handed pitcher Jake Odorizzi to the Minnesota Twins for minor league infielder Jermaine Palacios.
The 27-year-old Odorizzi moves to his third major league team.

For the Rays in 2017, Odorizzi went 10-8 with a 4.14 ERA and 127 strikeouts in 143 1/3 innings over 28 starts. He pitched a career-best 187 2/3 innings over 33 starts in 2016, posting a 3.69 ERA. Odorizzi was drafted by Milwaukee 32nd overall in 2008. He made his debut with Kansas City in 2012 before being dealt to Tampa Bay the next season.

The 21-year-old Palacios has a .290 career average over four minor league seasons. He finished last year with Class A Fort Myers.
[relatedlinks]

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.